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To jumpstart the EURO Campaign of the Belgium National Baseball team 2012 we would like to spread this press release concerning the goals, Coaching-staff and the schedule.

Goal

The goal of team Belgium is made out of 3 parts:

1) Have a better final result than in 2010 (9th place)

2) Come closer to establishing our A Pool status and hopefully stay in the A Pool. Staying in the A Pool surely is part of our long term goals. Because of the format this is a tough task (12 teams , Top 6 stay in, Bottom 6 relegate ). When we look at the other countries we must conclude that we’re far behind as far as money and logistical support but every baseball game needs to be played. If we show a ‘never say die‘ mentality we could come a long way . Everything is possible in a tournament. The only thing staff and players can control is the intensity of practices and games. With the right attitude and commitment we could get stronger as a unit. That’s why we will practice and play a lot together.

3) Better baseball in Belgium. As every coach in Belgium should have this as an objective, the National Team vision is no different.

Schedule

Together with head coach Sven Hendrickx , new Operations Manager Sander Gebruers came up with the following schedule with approval of the Belgian Federation.

38 players will start the following schedule:

Weekly indoor practices on Sundays in January and February. Players have to make sure to attend those practices to be in consideration for the final roster since a lot of testing will be done during those practices. Commitment, along with talent and mental toughness will be the3 main pillars. During those indoor sessions the staff will get help from some guest instructors.

Weekly outdoor practices in May.

After this, the final roster will be made and completed with some reserves. With this final roster, Team Belgium will have following schedule:

Participation at the Prague Baseball Week from June 26 till July 2

Minicamp on July 7-8

Minicamp on July 14, 15 with games against USA travel team ‘Old World Baseball’

Subject to change: games vs. International players in august

Minicamp on September 1, 2

European Championship A Pool from September 6 till September 16.

Staff

Starting from 2008 this has been mainly the same staff.

Head coach is Sven Hendrickx . Sven is also involved with the National Junior Program and he’s an instructor at the Belgium Baseball Academy. At the moment he’s not related to a club.

Kevin Peeters is the 3rd base coach. At the moment Kevin is also the head coach of the Royal Greys.

Eric Mertens is the 1st base coach. He is not involved in any club activities.

Patrick Renard is the bench coach. He’s also working with the Royal Greys at the club level.

Ellen Jacobs is the team’s Physiotherapist. In the daily life she works for ‘Move to Cure‘, a company specialized in healing injuries by moving, more exactly said by moving properly and appropriately adapted to the particular orthopedic problem of each individual.

Sander Gebruers is the team Operations Manager and he will deal with the logistical part of the team in cooperation with the coaches.